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Psychoacoustics

Yanny or Laurel

What is yanny or laurel? A clear definition from the psychoacoustics section of our glossary, with 13 related terms, tools to try and further reading.

Definition of Yanny or Laurel

Yanny or Laurel is an auditory illusion that became popular in May 2018, in which a short audio recording of speech can be heard as one of two words. 53 percent of over 500,000 respondents to a Twitter poll reported hearing a man saying the word "Laurel", while 47 percent of people reported hearing a voice saying the name "Yanny". Analysis of the sound frequencies has confirmed that both sets of sounds are present in the mixed recording, but some users focus on the higher-frequency sounds in "Yanny" and cannot seem to hear the lower sounds of the word "Laurel".

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What is Yanny or Laurel?

Yanny or Laurel is an auditory illusion that became popular in May 2018, in which a short audio recording of speech can be heard as one of two words.

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